The Houston Texans will take aim at their ninth consecutive victory when they close the regular season against the sinking Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
Houston (11-5) is one game behind the Jacksonville Jaguars (12-4) in the AFC South, but can claim the division crown with a home victory over the Colts and a Jacksonville loss to the Tennessee Titans.
The Texans previously clinched at least a wild-card berth but winning the division and getting a home playoff game would rate as a much better situation.
“I think what matters most is that Houston has to win,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said Wednesday. “That’s our focus and that’s what we’ll be focused on. Whatever else happens, it happens. We can’t control that. We want to see what happens in that game for sure, but we can’t control it.”
The Texans have ridden their top-ranked defense during the solid winning streak in which they have won by 10 or more points on just two occasions.
Houston is coming off a 20-16 home win over the Los Angeles Chargers, another playoff team. Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud passed for 244 yards and tossed scoring passes of 75 yards to Jayden Higgins and 43 yards to Jaylin Noel in the opening six minutes.
“I think this past game is probably my best game (of the season), process-wise, of getting us in the right checks, the right calls and motion timing, cadence, everything,” Stroud said. “So, I just want to build on that. I think we have some things that we need to clean up that we know. But I think we’re peaking at the right time. We’re starting to click at the right time. So, we’ve got to keep that going. I think this will be another opportunity to do that.”
Indianapolis was flying high with an 8-2 record entering a Week 11 bye.
But Colts quarterback Daniel Jones was playing with a fractured fibula and then tore an Achilles in Week 14 against Jacksonville. Indianapolis continued to plummet, as signing 44-year-old Philip Rivers to a contract couldn’t stop the losing streak from reaching six games and eliminating Indianapolis from the playoffs.
“When you lose five, six in a row, you start looking like, ‘Hey, we have to be better,'” Colts running back Jonathan Taylor said. “Good teams don’t lose five, six games in a row.”
Riley Leonard, a sixth-round selection in last April’s draft, gets his first career start for the Colts with nothing on the line Sunday.
Leonard said he learned a lot from having Rivers be part of the team’s quarterback room in recent weeks.
“The biggest thing Philip taught me was to remember why you play the game,” Leonard told reporters Wednesday. “I mean, he’s 44 years old and I think the sole purpose of why he came back was because he loves football and he has so much fun out there.
“And I think as a rookie, there are a lot of things that I haven’t learned yet emotionally. It’s easy to look at all the things that don’t matter. But what really matters is when you go out there, you give it your best.”
Leonard has seen action in four games this season and has completed 18 of 33 passes for 145 yards and two interceptions with a rushing score.
Rivers said starting Leonard is the right move for the Colts.
“It just made the most sense for all involved to get Riley in there and let him get some work,” Rivers said. “He’s been preparing and working all year. He’s got a shot to go out there and we’re all pulling for him.”
Cornerbacks Sauce Gardner (calf) and Jaylon Jones (illness) were among the Colts to miss practice Wednesday.
Among the Texans to sit out were cornerbacks Derek Stingley Jr. (oblique) and Kamari Lassiter (ankle/knee) and defensive end Denico Autry (knee).
Houston defeated the host Colts 20-16 in Week 13 while Jones was dealing with the fibula injury.
